Exploding iPhones Are Latest Headache for Apple

Apple iPhone 3GS smartphones have reportedly been exploding around Europe, in what Apple is calling isolated incidents. According to some news outlets, in at least one case Apple has offered to reimburse an owner, with the agreement that the terms and existence of the settlement were to remain confidential.

"Apple Inc. is investigating media reports that one or more of the company's
iPhones have exploded in Europe, a European Commission
spokeswoman said on Tuesday," Reuters
reported Aug. 18.

The spokesperson, Helen Kearns, reportedly told those gathered at a news
briefing that Apple is "trying to get more information on the specific
details of those incidents, and they will do tests as necessary to investigate
the possible cause."

Apple, for its part, is calling the incidents isolated but has said it is
looking into them.

"For the cases which have been reported in the media, Apple [is] trying to
get more information on the details of the incidents and will do tests as
necessary to investigate the possible cause," Apple reportedly told the
Commission in a statement, according to MacWorld.

In one incident, wrote Macworld, a
French teenager claimed to have hurt his eye after his girlfriend's iPhone made
a hissing sound and then its glass touch-screen shattered.

A 47-year-old UK
man said his daughter's iPhone also hissed and then exploded. And in the Netherlands,
an iPhone left in a car reportedly caused a fire that burned the vehicle's
seat.

SlashGear-running
an image presumably of the burnt car seat-additionally reported that Apple has
tried to keep chatter about these incidents to a minimum by giving refunds to
the owners of the destroyed devices, so long as they keep the terms of the
agreement confidential.

"[Apple] did offer the Liverpool owner a [$271] refund with the proviso
that, in accepting it, those involved were to 'agree that you will keep the
terms and existence of this settlement agreement completely confidential,' with
the understanding that any breach of confidentiality 'may result in Apple
seeking injunctive relief, damages and legal costs against the defaulting
persons or parties,'" wrote SlashGear, which went on to report that the
owner did not accept the terms.

Apple could not be reached for comment.

Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.